In many situations in industry, as well as in the home, an abrasive tool is needed to finish the surface of a workpiece or product. Hand-held sanding blocks or grinders generally find advantageous application when the work surface is large or planar, and sufficient room is available to manipulate such tools. With smaller or more detailed work, or in situations where space adjacent the work surface is limited, such tools are unsuitable. For smaller, more intricate work, it is conventionally known to use a nail file, a small swiss file or a folded piece of abrasive. In many instances, these objects do not provide satisfactory results. Abrading a surface with a nail file or a piece of folded abrasive, not only imposes great strain on the hand, but also generally does not permit smooth application of the abrading element. While a swiss file is easier to manipulate, they are relatively expensive, and are not suitable for some buffing or polishing applications.
The present invention overcomes these and other problems and provides an elongated, relatively thin, hand-held abrasive tool having a removable, endless abrasive strip mounted longitudianlly thereabout. The tool includes a grip portion and a workpiece engaging portion at one end thereof. In this respect, the present invention in many ways is like a file in that the grip portion enables accurate and controlled manipulation of the workpiece engaging portion, and its relatively thin, sleek profile permits its application on detailed, intricate surfaces. Importantly however, the removable abrasive strip permits alternate strips having different abrasive characteristics to be used to achieve specific desired workpiece surface features.